On the morning of 23 June the forward elements of the 11th Panzer Division were moving south from Stojanov with two companies forward. Near the village of Sabinovka they ran into the Soviet 10th Tank Division, one of the few Soviet armored units with thorough large-unit training behind it and a full complement of modern KV tanks. A giant duel began at 800-1,000 meters.

Conclusion

The better-armed and better-protected Soviet tanks thrashed the Germans, who fled the battlefield after losing five tanks. The 10th Tank Division's commander reported that nothing could stop the KV tanks, but his division had no tractors to recover damaged vehicles. When a KV broke down, its crew had to abandon it and set it afire. By late August, despite repeated successes in the battle, the division had only 14 tanks left and its survivors became the 133rd Tank Brigade.

Display Relevant AFV Rules

AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle

Vulnerable to results on the Assault Combat Chart (7.25, 7.63, ACC), and may be attacked by Anti-Tank fire (11.2, DFT). Anti-Tank fire only affects the individual unit fired upon (7.62, 11.0).

AFV's are activated by tank leaders (3.2, 3.3, 5.42, 6.8).
They may also be activated as part of an initial activating stack, but if activated in this way would need a tank
leader in order to carry out combat movement.

Full-strength AFV's with "armor efficiency" may make two anti-tank (AT) fire attacks per turn
(either in their action segment or during opportunity fire) if they have AT fire values of 0 or more
(11.2).

Each unit with an AT fire value of 2 or more may fire at targets at a distance of between 100% and 150% of its
printed AT range. It does so at half its AT fire value. (11.3)

Efficient and non-efficient AFV's may conduct two opportunity fires per turn if using direct fire
(7.44, 7.64).
Units with both Direct and AT Fire values may use either type of fire in the same turn as their opportunity fire,
but not both (7.22, 13.0).
Units which can take opportunity fire twice per turn do not have to target the same unit both times (13.0).

Demoralized AFV's are not required to flee from units that do not have AT fire values (14.3).

Place a Wreck marker when an AFV is eliminated in a bridge or town hex (16.3).

Open-top AFV's: Immune to M, M1 and M2 results on Direct and Bombardment Fire Tables, but DO take step losses from X and #X results (7.25, 7.41, 7.61, BT, DFT). If a "2X" or "3X" result is rolled, at least one of the step losses must be taken by an open-top AFV if present.

Closed-top AFV's: Immune to M, M1 and M2 results on Direct and Bombardment Fire Tables. Do not take step losses from Direct or Bombardment Fire. If X or #X result on Fire Table, make M morale check instead (7.25, 7.41, 7.61, BT, DFT).

Closed-top AFV's: Provide the +1 modifier on the Assault Table when combined with infantry. (Modifier only applies to Germans in all scenarios; Soviet Guards in scenarios taking place after 1942; Polish, US and Commonwealth in scenarios taking place after 1943.) (ACC)

Tank: all are closed-top and provide the +1 Assault bonus, when applicable

APC – Armored Personnel Carrier: These are Combat Units, but stack like Transports. They can transport personnel units or towed units. They are not counted as combat units for the +1 stacking modifier on the Direct Fire and Bombardment Tables (4.4). They may be activated by regular leaders and tank leaders (1.2, 3.34, 4.3, 5.43). They do not provide the +1 Assault bonus (ACC).

Display Order of Battle

Germany Order of Battle

Heer

Foot

Leader

Mechanized

Soviet Union Order of Battle

Army (RKKA)

Mechanized

Display Errata (4)

4 Errata Items

The reduced direct fire value of the Heer HMG became 5-5 starting with Fall of France.

The Pz IVe appearing in the original Panzer Grenadier game had an Anti tank value of 4-7. As of Afrika Korps (2002), continuing onward through the 3rd and 4th edition games, the anti tank value has been 4-4.

Played Solo.
I decided to set up the Germans along the road to the town and setup the Russians along the western edge of town for extra cover. The german armor went straight for the russians wanting to fight it out at close range. The infantry was planned to go around and enter the town from the east. Due to bad rolling of the russians, the germans quickly closed the distance. The duel that developed was over within an hour and a half. 4 steps of german steps and six soviet steps lay burning in the town and surrounding tundra. The last of the russian steps was lost due to a combined arms close assault. The battle ended in a draw at 11:30.
Noteworthies:
- the first german tank shot was boxcars
- the first three Russian (opportunity) shots resulted in a final roll of 9

EFD #10, "The Duel" pits elements of the German 1st Battalion, 15th Panzer Regiment against elements of the Soviet 10th Tank Division. This is a mostly armored affair with a small company of German infantry and a platoon of HMGs thrown in. I selected this scenario as what I felt would be a short, quick, maneuverable scenario that would be fun to play. I also have a turn-by-turn photo AAR in the forums in the General Discussion folder under the same title here.

SETUP

The Germans setup on the western edge of the board 8 with the Infantry units lead by the 10-1-2 LT on the road followed by the HMG platoon being led by the SGT 8-0-0. There were 2 platoons of Pz IIIs deployed just south of the road and the remaining tanks (2 PzIVEs, 3 PzIIIs and a Pz II along with 4 hanomags, deploying in a line north of the road. The Soviets deployed the BT-7 platoons on the western edge of Sabinovka (hex 0307 - board 2) and the T-34s and KV-1 units deployed on the hills to the north.

BATTLE

At 0900, the German infantry and HMG units approached Sabinovka down the road while the tanks just south of the road, used the open ground to begin setting up a prime position to provide flanking fire. The soviets countered by moving the BT-7s out of town and into the plain to try and intercept the infantry. This triggered the distant Pz IIIs and PzIVEs to try to fire against the thin-skinned tanks. With all guns blazing, the 6 units were able to pull off 1 hit that demoralized a platoon of BT-7s in addition to a step loss. The T-34s and KV-1 moved off the hill and began a slow approach across the northern plain. At this point, I had realized one big mistake I had made in assigning my tank leaders. As I was enamored with the idea of maneuvering tanks, I had not paid attention to the fact that the KV-1 moved half as fast as the T-34s. This effectively forced me to keep these units together and move like turtles across the plain. I would split them later but it would be to my demise.

The Soviets attempted to recover the demoralized BT-7 units while firing on the approaching Panzers in the south with the remaining good-order BTs. The distant Pz IIIs continued to fire on the BTs as well and all this fire resulting in no hits. THe T-34s and KV-1 units moved south to try and keep them in proximity to the BT-7s, however, the Soviet commander chose to ignore the German infantry and leaders (Lt. Ubermensch and Sgt. Sturm) continuing down the road. The Pz IVs, seeing this movement, struck out from behind the hills and began a cautious approach. After putting the T-34s into what I thought was a good, centralized position to strike either north or south, I watched in horror as the German infantry moved up the road and ran across the plain and got into postions to launch an assault in the next 15 minutes. I realized at this point that if I did not win initiative, I would suffer an assault lead by the German Super-Lieutenant on my best units.

Fate (or Hamete, in this case) was not kind.

On turn 3 (0930), the Germans win initiative with 2 activations before the Soviets perform 1 and the Lt and Infantry run at the T-34s, throwing everything they could find into the fray. Immediately, both T-34s become demoralized, with one step being lost whilst the Germans laughed off all attempts at counter-fire. The BT-7s, realizing that the Germans could conceivably win this assault and move into position in the next turn decide to head back to town, ending in 0309. In the midst of all this confusion, the Pz IIIs to the south were able to fire on the KV-1, ultimately setting up a cross-fire for the PzIVs in the north. This resulted another step loss to the Russians. Any fire the Russians were able to perform bounced harmlessly off the Panzers or into the Russian plains.

Over the next 45 minutes (3 turns), The Germans were unstoppable as they got two consecutive turns with 4 activations before the Soviets got 1. The T-34s were wiped out after failing to recover in the assault and being forced to flee, suffering free-shots and step-losses to both fire and demoralization. Another long shot from the Pz IIIs in the south to the retreating BT-7s destroyed another step. The KV-1 headed for the hills where they started and the rout was on. The Grenadiers moved to the edge of town and did come under point-blank fire but were able to withstand it. The Pz IIIs that had been proviiding covering fire moved down the road and were able to enter Sabinovka unmolested and position themselves behind the BT-7 positions. A final assault on the BT-7s by the infantry and AT fire from the tanks in town sealed the Soviets fate while the reduced KV-1 platoon limped off the battlefield.

AFTERMATH

The title of this AAR fits perfectly with how I felt I played this game. This games provided 22 turns to resolve the battle and we were done in 6, but Soviet hopes were dashed by the time turn 4 came around. In discussing the game with Vince afterward (which lasted almost as long as the game itself :), He mentioned something that rang very true: the fact that the game does not reward simple, blind rushing into combat to try and get kills but allows for players to plan and execute moves that taken over the course of a game, should lead to ultimate victory (or defeat as sometimes there is simply no chance). I feel that I made three crucial mistakes in this game:

Assignment of Tank Leaders. I assigned a leader to a T-34 and a BT-7. The T-34s and KV-1 made up one attack group and the BT-7s made up the other. Had I realized that I could move most of my tanks around without fear (and without a tank leader), I should have assigned the leaders to the T-34 AND the KV-1, leaving the BT-7s as a mobile reserve that could move into position to take opportunity shots at the approaching infantry.

Ignoring the German Infantry. Moving the T-34s into the center of the plains on board 8 looked like a good idea as I was cutting down the angle of fire so that I could avoid the cross-fire, but I put myself into position where I was an easy target for assault.

Patience (or lack thereof). I should have kept my head and made the Germans commit their moves before revealing mine. In the same discussion, we spoke of the fact that the Germans could potentially get 4 shots per unit at the Soviets if the situation was right, and in some cases, I was my own worst enemy as I put myself in positions to fail.

The funny thing about this was that I was worried about the crossfire, but when it was all said and done, I suffered more casualties at the hands of the infantry (6 steps) than I did from AT fire.

In spite of the result, I really enjoyed this scenario and actually would like to play it again to try out some of my other ideas and lessons learned. I don't think I would have enjoyed this nearly as much if I had played solo - although I probably would have at least got ONE hit!

This was a very fast and dirty armour fight which was decided in just half a dozen of its 22 turns. Both sides armour clashed in the open ground of the southern half of the map, with the German panzergrenadier company wisely staying out of harms way to the north.

The Germans consistently held the initiative and were able to use this advantage to work into crossfire positions and take down some of the T-34s. Most of the Soviet casualties fell amongst the lightly protected BT-7s, and it was this that allowed the Germans to score thier six kills before the Russians got their four. The Soviet medium and heavy tanks definitely outclassed anything the Germans had, and if I were to play this again, I would probably let them do the fighting and keep the less useful BTs out of harms way to deny the Germans the chance to score some kills. It was an absolutely knife-edge battle and could easily have been a Soviet victory. Definitely one worth replaying.

The first play through of this scenario was a complete disaster for the Germans.

What insane act of stupidity did I do? The German halftracks charged first, and were quickly eliminated by Soviet fire. That was pretty much game over.

Please see my second AAR entry for this scenario. This entry is only good for one thing: To remind the dear reader to advance with your armour first! Halftracks charging tanks? Oh my, I can't believe I was ever that much of a novice! :p

German forces race eastward while the Soviet armour heads to the plains SW of the town of Nonamov

0915

The German armour in the southwest opens fire (to no effect). Soviets return fire and the PzIVE is first reduced then eliminated by the mighty T-34a tanks. (0-2)

As the Soviet armour is otherwise engaged, the German infantry take advantage and advances.

0930

Germans gain the initiative with THREE activations!

German infantry assaults the KV-1 reducing and demoralizing it. The KV-1 fails to rally and is eliminated by the German infantry while trying to flee. (2-2)

Some of the Russian BT-7s are destroyed by German tank fire. (3-2)

The T-34s miss the German tanks moving into position

0945

The Germans again continue their infantry assault and a BT-7 is eliminated while the T-34s are disrupted (5-2)

Nearby Soviet Tanks eliminate some German infantry. But this allows the German tanks to concentrate flanking fire on the BT-7 destroying it! (7-2/2)

The remaining Soviet T-34a is greatly outnumbered and flees the battlefield. The Germans have won this engagement.

Aftermath

This was a devastating battle for the Soviets. The plan this second time was to draw the Soviet fire with the German armour and then advance with the halftracks. If the Soviets refused to fire on the German Armour (ie pass), then the Germans would not advance the infantry (also pass) and have their tanks undamaged in striking distance. Once the Soviet armour fires, then the halftracks would advance.

The main problems for the Soviets are three-fold in this mission:

German Armour Efficiency: Although better gunned and armoured. Being attacked twice as often negates this benefit. Having only “one chance” to hit the Germans means that the tide can swing quite rapidly against the Soviets.

Initiative: With German initiative at 5, versus Soviet 2, the Germans are likely to get 1-3 activations first. Which means they can quite likely set up flanking fire even before the Soviets get their first shot in.

Infantry: The German infantry can’t be ignored. But, if the Soviets focus their fire on the infantry, then the German armour will chew them up. I tried to use the BT-7s against the infantry while the big tanks (T-34 and KV-1) attacked the German armour. This mission would be much more balanced if the Soviets just had a few infantry squads to provide cover from the German infantry. This mission, quite simply, shows the benefit of combined arms.

A small and interesting scenario. More powerful Russian tanks against longer range German tanks with infantry support. The Germans set up on the western edge, and the Russians set up at the forward edge of the town.

The Germans advance towards the Russians but stop outside Russian range. The German INF and several tank platoons circle to the northern side of the twon to flank the Russians. The Russians move sevral BT-7's out of the town to the north to threaten the halftracks loaded with infantry.

The Germans get initiative and immediately unload the infantry to prevent the easy kills from the BT-7's. The Germans also move some tanks around the south side of the town to set up cross fire bonus against the heavily armored T-34A's and the KV-1. The Russians also are in range now, so begin to take the Pz-IIIG's under fire and eliminate several steps.

The German infantry close on disrupted BT-7's, and the Pz-IIIH's and the Pz-IVE's continue to try and reduce the T-34A's. The KV-1 eliminates another Pz-IIIG step. Before the BT-7's can recover, the German INF assault them. With no INF support, the Russian tanks are in trouble in an assault.

The T-34A's take a pounding fromt he Pz-IVE's, but the Russians have eliminated more than three German tank steps. The Germans continue to assault Russian tanks, but both sides have achieved their respective victory conditions at less than 12 turns played, so the result is a draw.

I remembered playing this scenario back in the old Panzer Grenadier game days, so I had to have another go at it. There was some maneuvering then a lot of tank fire with both sides blasting enough enemy steps away for a draw in this game and neither having enough strength or forces to clear a map for a victory. The Soviets lost a leader tank, which affected half their battle-group. The Germans weaker but larger tank force slowly lost strength and the German Infantry & Halftracks stayed as far away as they could from the raging tank battle. I believe this was the same result I had years ago in the old PG.

This game was played over Skype in a brisk 90-100 minute session of play. Tony chose this one from a list of many he desired to have a go at and so, I was able to 'cross-off' another scenario from this monster pack of 112.

This battle depicts a mainly all armour affair where Soviet monsters of the time, KV1 and T34's backed up with lightweight BT-7's take on a German force mainly composed of PzIII's, but with a couple of IV's and even a puny II and some SdKfz 251's. They have a handful of infantry too. What DOES need to be borne in mind by the Soviet though, despite his heavier armoured beasts is the 5 v 2 initiative advantage of the Germans. To win, the Germans must knock out 6 Soviet steps whilst the Reds need to knock out either 4 armoured steps or a 7 step combo .... To battle !

The German forces were moving eastwards and they had placed a company of infantrymen and an MG platoon on the road to Sabinovka (incidentally led by one of the regiments finest Leutnant’s). They were also supported by 2 x platoons of PzIII tanks. About 800 yards to their north were 6 more platoons of tanks (1 PzII, 3 PzIII and 2 PzIV) shielding 4 x groups of APC’s. The Soviets to the east were deployed on the edges of Sabinovka itself.

0900 hours: The German infantry went forward along the road with their 2 x PzIII platoons breaking off to the south. The Soviets advanced west from Sabinovka towards the Germans, but their whole company of BT-7’s came under long-range fire from the enemy PzIII’s 1800m away. Six German salvoes rung out aimed at the BT’s. This destroyed a couple of them (1 step) and demoralized the rest of the platoon. With this small but initial success, the 2 x platoon of PzIV’s edged cautiously forward keeping in mind the distant T34’s and KV’s.

0915 hours: The PzIII’s that had opened fire continued raining their 50mm rifled AT fire against the distant BT’s but with no effect. Meanwhile, the 2 platoons of PzIII’s that had broken off from the infantry continued rounding southwards. The harangued BT-7’s opened up on these flanking enemy tanks but also without any success themselves. The Soviet tank commander in charge of the T34’s feared these southbound Panzers were setting up for crossfire shots on his ‘monsters’ side armour and in response, withdrew in order to prevent this trickery. Regardless, the PzIv’s to his front advanced to a nearby hillock to continue their threat, but worse still, the T34 commander had unwittingly pulled up in front of the advancing German infantry company coming up the road and his tanks were now in peril. The KV’s had to be content with trying to lumber toward the action.

0930: The battle began to unravel for the Soviets quickly. The German infantry swarmed all over the two T34 platoons that had stumbled into their path. The fight was swift and deadly. Initially destroying a quarter of the T34’s (1 step) in close assault, the rest of the Soviet tankers (yes I said tankers),obviously believing they were going to be destroying weaker enemy tanks that day rather than being mauled by masses of infantry became immediately demoralized. In a shambles of an escape attempt, (enforced recovery and failure) the remaining T34’s became victims to grenade bundles under their tracks and on their fuel drums, as well as schmeisser bursts down their hatches. They were completely and utterly destroyed (3 steps). The BT-7’s remained without further harm as the distant enemy firing still failed to hit any more of their number and the main Soviet hope rested now on the lone KV platoon.

0945: All hope was lost from this point as the KV now became the centre of the German attention. Those German PzIII’s that had moved south now managed to loose off shells on ‘The Beast’s’ flanks. Reacting to this believing to be under serious attack, as the KV’s swung round, the two PzIV platoons that were positioned on the hilltop announced themselves with their bellowing 75mm guns. Half the KV platoon was now no more (1 step) and the game was up ! To the KV credit, the remainder of the platoon stayed in good order and now began to withdraw. The Bt-7’s also withdrew into Sabinovka town.

1000-1015 hours: The finale of the battle took just 30 minutes to be completed. The German infantry pressed on Sabinovka forcing the BT-7’s to open fire in their own defence. With the BT-7’s committed, PzIII’s drove into the town behind them. The infantry assaulted both town sections containing these tanks and whilst engaging them, the PzIII’s finished them off with close range AT fire. All but 1 step of Soviet tanks had been eliminated and without any loss to German numbers at all over just 6 turns.

It sounds like a harsh defeat and maybe it was ? Tony, I'm not sure had realised the effect of having such a lower initiative. When we have played the other 3 battles with 44 Yanks v Germans or even Indians v Italians, I think he may have been used to an initiative advantage himself. One thing in PG that is perhaps not always highlighted in chat is the difference in playing tactics and styles when subjected to such a lower initiative rating ... Hopefully, he didn't take too much note of the effects :-) I rate this a '3'. It was fun, a bit chess-like, and perhaps one for a complete newbie to take as his second game ?

This battle was very short and decisive, ending in just 9 of a possible 22 turns with no Soviet tanks left on the map and with the Germans taking zero step losses.

Everything seemed to depend on the reliabilty of the T-34As and they failed miserably. The Germans benefited from the huge initiative advantage and were able to get those T-34s in a crossfire outside the town between two platoons of PzIIIGs and two PzIIIHs. The Soviets did get a brief respite as after the crossfire was set-up the Germans only got one activation before the Soviets the following turn. At 10:00/turn 5, the PzIIIHs fired first, missing with all four shots and then a crucial decision had to be made: either fire at the PzIIIGs before they could use their crossfire or run. Well the T-34s did fire back, only needing to roll 8s and both shots missed. The panzers easily succeed in eliminating one step of the T-34s and disrupting another. From that point on the battle was pretty much over as now the those Soviet tanks were trapped in the crossfire. The next turn the Germans are able to conduct 4 activations before the Soviets and 2 more steps of T-34s are eliminated with just one demoralized step left.

The other Soviet tanks, the KV-1s and BT-7s held out a little longer. A brief firefight took place but once again the Soviets keep firing blanks back at the PzIVEs which had taken up positions in the town. While those tanks were exchanging fire German foot units were able to sneak up on the KV-1 and prepare for an assault. The remaining BT-7 units were all reduced with only one of those in good order so not much could be done to assist the soon to be overrun KV-1s. The assaults are resolved quickly and the only damage the Germans took was one HMG unit becoming disrupted before the tanks were eliminated. At 11:00/turn 9, all that remained of the Soviets was one demoralized step of BT-7s that had fled to the northeast corner of the map, boxed in. PzIIIGs that had relocated into the town fire at a long range and easily eliminate the last, doomed Soviet tank.

This was an easy win for Germany, a total rollover but I probably could of done a lot better with the Soviets if I would of been a little more patient. I knew that eliminating 4 German tank steps was going to be tough with Soviet tanks not being efficient and having only a 2 initiative up against a German 5. I should of been a lot more cautious so as not to have had the T-34s ending up in a crossfire situation in the first place. Then, I just couldn't allow T-34s to run away from battling the PzIIIGs with the heavy AT firepower advantage of 5 against an armor rating of 3. I'm very relieved that this was a solo play as it would of been utterly embarrassing playing the Soviets against an opponent the way I did. So I can't give this a low rating, it was fun blowing stuff up; Soviet stuff, and a lot of it. I think this has a great replay value and is a good training scenario on how to use and NOT use tanks.

As wayne mentioned in his AAR this was for the first half, very much a game of cat and mouse with a lot of manuvering. Eventually someone has to stick their neck out to get some shots firing. So eventually I was the one to move into firing range and take the first losses, a lot of losses but I knew having played this one out solo that it's only a matter of time before the German foot units can at least catch up with the slower-moving KV-1s and overrun them. Also, once the Soviets get flushed out of the town it is not so hard to eventually get some of their units in a crossfire. I managed this but just barely and really thought I had lost this one with my earlier blundering but then was reminded that tank step losse do not count double in this one for victory purposes. So once in the crossfire I was able cause a domino effect after eliminating the first step of T-34As. A situation arises where the Soviets have to make a decision to return fire and eliminate the units that have set-up the crossfire or to run. Well, he did eliminate one platoon of panzers and then soon moved up an adjacent hill. However, I still had a reduced and disrupted panzer a few hexes further back that still had heavy tanks in range to continue even more crossfire results. I was also soon able to run up on the one reduced and disrupted T-34 with INF and HMG unitss close by but not without losing a step from opportunity delivered by a triple stack of Bt-7s, however, the assault is still sucessful. After the smoke cleared from even more deadly crossfire another platoon of T-34s were gone and the remaining reduced and demoralized KV-1 ripe for another assault from the German foot units. And that was it, both sides inflicted enough losses for a victory on turn 13 ending this one in a draw.

I believe Wayne is right that this one favors Germany a bit and that is also a good beginning or training scenario for someone new to using armored units of varying firepower and movement rates with a lot of terrain to utilize as well. With the Germans you can make a few mistakes, in my case a lot of mistakes and still have a shot. You also have to learn or employ crossfire tactics to realistically hope to get rid of all the Soviet heavies, especially the KV-1s with their armor rating of 5 and you have to follow through foot units making assaults on damaged or barely mobile tank units. Anyway, it was a good play and glad to have walked away from this one with a draw. I almost panicked after taking a solid beating the first half of this battle but luckily was able to recover and bounce back to even the score in time. A solid "3" rating from me

After our previous scenario ended early, Brett and I plumped for this classic well played scenario. I took the Red Army for this one. Brett set up his tank units to come down the road with his INF to the north of the road. My KV1 and T34's set up in the town with the BT7's on the hills to the south of the town. For the first 90 minutes of game turn the opposing forces played cat and mouse with each other. I had moved all my units in the town and was using the interior road network to threaten both of Brett's flanking attacks in turn. Eventually I had a shot at his PZIV's but missed with all three shots (9's required. I thought then that the German tank commander would seize the moment and advance with all his PZIV's & PZ111G's and hope to win the initiative the following turn (+3 advantage at that time) but he decided to keep skulking out of normal range. Their followed a few more turns of maneuver until the same shot again presented themselves to the Soviets this time accurate fire (Double 6 followed by a 11) destroyed 3 X PZIII's coupled with another lucky OF shot from the BT7's resulted an INF step loss. Brett thought at this moment that I had won the game, until I pointed out that in this scenario tank losses do not count double and anyway he could still take out six Soviet steps for a draw. Encouraged he advanced on eventaully forcing me out of the town. Here the German's manged to set up some flanking shots which now caused the first Soviet tank loss. With the German INF now in postion to assault a demoralized T34 the Soviet tank commander had a choice fire at the lone PZIII in range get a hit which would result in 4 German tank step losses but knowing that would almost certainly result in a combination of more cross fire and INF assault which should gain the German player enough kills to claim the draw. With board space running out I took the shots and got my step loss, however as I feared the Germans made not mistake the following activation and wiped out my beloved T34's for the draw.
This was a fun scenario in many ways but I certainly think that the Soviets need a lot of luck in this one. Hence the low rating. However a good starter scenario for new players wanting to learn tank tactics.